Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Manifesting New Thinking

I keep on hearing that what we need in Washington is “new thinking”. Yet we keep on going to people with lots of experience or “old thinking” to come up with “new thinking”. This would make sense if the people with lots of experience are willing to put aside their old experience and be creative and think in a new way. Somehow this sounds like a difficult task. If you have years of experience doing something a certain way and got the results you wanted and it worked for you, why would you start doing things differently? One reason might be, that the old ways just don’t work anymore. It’s not about right or wrong, it just means that what used to work does not anymore. This is a very difficult concept for most people to grasp. This is at the heart of all transitions.

What makes this one enormously challenging is that it is happening collectively and it is hitting us at our beliefs about survival. If I don’t have a job, I can’t pay my bills, I’ll lose my house, I’ll end up on the streets, and so on and so forth. Many of us don’t trust our employers, our banks, our government, etc. This gives us much reason for going into panic and chaos. Now multiply that by all the people who feel this to some extent or another and spread it all around the globe. Oh, and don’t forget all the previous insecurities in our lives that haven’t vanished, they are sleeping in the underbelly of the beast. I agree, it is a mess and very difficult not to get sucked into.

Going back to this whole concept of "new thinking", as challenging as it may sound, it is our only option. In other words, the bad news is that the world is falling apart. But the good news is, that we now have the opportunity to create something brand new! Yes, it means taking risks, and stepping way out of our comfort zones and even doing or being ways that we may have judged as crazy and illogical in the past. We need to let the past go with as much dignity as we can muster up and let our creative genius take over to come up with new, boldly outrageous, and even crazy solutions. This is not for the faint at heart, or those who crave the comfort and security of building structures and making rules. This is for the wildly adventurous who want to live life like it has never been lived before. This is not for those who want guarantees and safety nets, it is for those who are so filled with life that they do not need anything else to help them fly or promise them safety if they fall.